Indian Metrological Department

For many years, the Indian economy has been called a ‘gamble with the monsoon’. This means that if the monsoon fails then with it the Indian economy tanks as well. For the past two years, precipitation has been precariously low in many parts of the country; reservoirs have dried up, and images of parched and cracked lands have been flooding TV screens. Just before this year's monsoons lived up to the Indian Metrological Department (IMD) prediction of more than normal rain, there was a long list of people who had committed suicide in different parts of the country.